by Ann, Becca
Her lips press against mine, and this time they stay long enough for me to weave my fingers through her hair and keep our mouths locked. We kiss in the parking lot till we’re both out of breath, and someone yells at us to get a room. We both laugh against each other’s mouths, because I know I didn’t think we’d be that couple, but we are and I don’t even care.
“So, what is it you want?” I ask once we’ve calmed down enough to talk. She yanks on the collar of my jacket to keep me close. I don’t think I’ll distance myself ever again.
She pecks my lips, still not saying anything.
I pinch her side. “Come on, you’re killing me.”
The evil glint goes back to her eyes, and I vow here and now to find ways to get her to look at me like that for the rest of my life.
“A king-sized bed.”
Now an exclusive look at book two in Ryan and Lexie’s story, coming Spring 2014
BEACH SIDE BEDS AND SANDY PATHS
Chapter 1
Ryan
I’m whipped.
I’m whipped and I don’t care. Because if being whipped means I get to spend every day after school with Lexie, then I’ll carry her bright pink purse that’s filled to the brim with nail polish on my dick if she asks. Luckily, I only have to carry it from the packed school hallway to her car—on my arm, not my junk.
“Are you sure you want to study at my house?” she pouts as we hop in. She always lets me drive, not sure why. Probably ’cause she knows I like to. “We went there yesterday.”
“I know.” I smirk, tickling the pads of her fingers as she wraps them around mine. “But Pop-pop is still sick.”
Even as I say it, my ears go up in flames and the heat beats through my face.
“You’re such a big fat liar.” Lex squeezes my hands and leans her head on my shoulder. “I’m going to get you to tell me one of these days.”
“Tell you what?” I ask, trying to pull off innocent, which has never worked for me.
“What you’ve been hiding from me. And why you’re being so weird.”
I chuckle, letting go of her hand so I can wrap my arm around her shoulders. “I can’t keep a secret from you if my life depended on it.”
“Well, you can,” she says, running a hand over my knee. “But it’s much better for the both of us when you don’t. You know, we could’ve avoided the entire Sean thing, and the…ahem…drinking thing, if you would’ve just plucked up your balls and told me how you felt in the first place.”
She’s got that two-dimpled smile on, even though I can’t see it. I tickle her side and she socks me in the upper thigh, making me jerk the wheel.
“Patience, you goof. I’ll tell you eventually. I just don’t want to talk about it right now, ’kay?”
Her lip juts out and I refuse to fall for the the puppy-dog face she uses against me all the damn time.
We pull up to her house—or I should say basement apartment—and she lets out a huge sigh. I know she doesn’t want to be here, but if she knew what was going on at my place, she’d pick recovering alcoholic over the shit I’m dealing with any day.
I grab her purse and her backpack, and she leads me straight to her room. Her mom’s not home yet, but her AA meeting ends in about an hour, so if she’s having a good day, she’ll be here soon.
Plopping down on the bed, she pulls out her Physics book while I take out History. She’s already taking notes, pencil flying across the paper. I’m still sitting here waiting to crack open the binding.
One hour is all I have, if I’m lucky. And I don’t want to spend it studying.
My hand reaches for hers, stopping her midsentence in her notes. I give her that smile I know she knows is the one that says, “kiss me now, or I’ll make you.”
“Ry…” she grumbles. “We have finals next week.”
“Uh huh,” I say, kissing the inside of her wrist.
“So, you know I have to study.”
“MmmHmm.” I work my way up her arm, pausing at the crook of her elbow.
“Then stop being so distracting!” She whips from my grasp and shields her face with her hair.
As if that’ll stop me.
“I’m not doing anything.” I chuckle as I smooth her long brown hair back to kiss behind her ear.
She growls when my lips touch her skin, and I’m smiling, knowing I’m pissing her off and driving her crazy all at once.
Throwing her pencil in her book, she turns her face to mine, big, golden brown eyes giving me the “you’re in trouble, but not really” look.
Then as I wrap my arm around her waist, pulling her down to the pillows, she lets out a defeated sigh.
“I hate you sometimes.”
I grin. “I love you, too.”
My lips press to hers for the first of what I know will be a million kisses. Once we start, we usually don’t stop for a while. I hear the books get kicked to the floor as her leg hitches up around my hip. Lex’s mouth and her body are so addicting. How can she not expect me to want her every moment I’m with her?
Though, I do feel a tiny bit guilty, because I’m not in the best of places mentally at the moment. She’s the only one who makes me feel better. She always has been. And kissing her like this makes all the shit go away. I don’t want it to seem like I’m using her to escape, even though it may be a little true.
I kiss her like this because I love her. That is all the way true.
She breaks from my lips to catch her breath, and I travel down her neck. Her chest is flushed and moving up and down with each hitched breath she lets out, and I can’t control what my hands do when she turns me on like this.
When I undo the button on her jeans, she snaps her fingers around my wrist.
“Sorry,” I pant in her face. Because I am. Damn, I gotta cool it.
She gives me that gorgeous two-dimpled smile. “It’s not that.” Her laugh shakes her body as she loosens her grip on my wrist. “I thought I heard someone knocking.”
I sit straight up, ready to bolt under the bed. “Did you?”
She laughs again, yanking me down next to her. “No. I think it was my heart or something.”
“Oh.” Because that’s the genius word that pops out. I should say, “Or mine” or something equally as good as that, but she shuts my mouth with more kisses.
I give myself credit for going right back to her pants. Because I know that moment was ruined, but I can’t help it. I want to touch and feel more of her, be a part of her, and I’m turned on so much I don’t think I really know what I’m doing.
The zipper goes down and her hand is only resting on my forearm, not stopping me. And her lips are working miracles on mine.
When my hand goes under her panties, her breath catches and her fingers grasp my arm, but they don’t push me away, they pull me closer.
I’ve been with Lex for four months. Our relationship stumbled from best friends to lovers so fast I’m not sure if we knew how to handle the transition. There seemed to still be rules to follow, steps to take even though we know each other inside out. But for a while, it was “Am I okay to touch you here?” or “Hell! I’m kissing my best friend!” and we never got into all the physical stuff besides kissing—okay, heavy kissing—and holding hands, and yeah, I’ve grabbed those stunning boobs of hers probably more times than I’ve attended Auto Shop this year.
But this…is new for us.
“Ryan,” she breathes against my lips. I can’t even kiss her because my own breathing is too hard and fast to close my mouth for a second. She says my name again, and I tuck against the crook of her neck, placing kisses when I can, but concentrating more on her. How she’s breathing, how she’s moving against my hand, how hot her body feels against mine. How good it feels against mine.
We fit together. I’ve always known that—hoped for it—and having her like this seems like a major step. One I wasn’t sure we were ready to take, but I took it anyway.
That prick of guilt pops in my head again, about using her, b
ut I shove it away as she breathes my name again.
Does she know how beautiful she is right now? How damn sexy?
This time, there is a knock on the door.
“Lex? You home?”
She shoves me off, my hand sliding out from her pants, and I land with a thud. With practiced skill, I roll into my spot under the bed—the one that has lines of clothes, shoes, and boxes in the shape of my body.
“Uh, yeah, Mom!” Lex shouts, and I hear the zipper go up and see her hand dip down for her Physics book. “Come in!”
Her door creaks as Ms. Boggs steps in. The smell of alcohol—the cleaning kind—filters through, even in my hiding spot under the bed.
“Just wanted to let you know, I’m picking up a late shift.”
“You sure you’re okay with that?” Lex’s voice sounds heavy still, but if her mom notices, she doesn’t say anything.
“Yes. My sponsor thought it’d be a good idea to keep busy.”
“Roger?”
“Um, yes. Roger.”
It’s quiet for a little bit, and I get shakier every breath I take. Lex and her mom are both in relationships the other doesn’t approve of. Her mom hasn’t exactly said that she has a thing for her sponsor, but by the way she says Roger’s name, I’m gonna agree with Lex on this one.
“Okay, well, don’t stay up.”
The door closes just as Lex says, “I never do.”
I pop my head out from under the bed, just as Lex pops hers out from on top. We both cock a smile at each other.
“You better get running. I can drive you home.”
“Nah, walking’s healthy.” And she can’t see who’s at my house.
She pouts. “Okay.” Then she puts her hands on either side of my head and does a kissing push up.
I wish I could stay here forever, as lame as that sounds it’s true. I don’t want to go home. It’d be Lex and me and no one else. No finals, no recovering alcoholic mother, no shit.
I wish we were back up at that ski lodge, and I had told her how I felt on day one. Not day six.
She pulls away, and I pack up my stuff. Before I climb out the window, I pull her in to give her another kiss.
“Hey,” she whispers at my back once I’m crouched on the ground outside her room. “Thank you for the distraction. I liked it.” She puts on her big smile, and her cheeks flush.
I smirk. “Me too.”
Hitching my backpack on my shoulder, I take off across her yard and get to the street without anyone seeing.
Each step feels like a giant knife digging deeper in my gut the closer I get to my house.
To him.
My brother.
Look for more Ryan and Lexie
Beach Side Beds and Sandy Paths (Beds series 2)
Lonesome Beds and Bumpy Roads (Beds series 3)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
And
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Becca’s Acknowledgements
Thank you reader, for getting to this page, for buying this book, and for experiencing a story that was extremely fun to write.
Thank you Tessa, for not running away when I asked to write this book with you, for the 20 hour car ride when we got to read this book out loud to each other—and for not making fun of my “Ryan” voice—and for most of all, being my “Bestie!” and taking this publishing journey with me.
Thank you Suzi, for editing the crap out of this. Your brilliance is amazing. Don’t ever unfriend me.
Thank you Jolene, for our awesome cover! I stare at it all the time and my heart explodes with how much love I have for it.
Thank you quarter machines, for providing me with my very first engagement ring at age ten.
Thank you Kelley Vitolo, Kelley Lynn, Jenny Morris, Rachel Schieffelbein, Abby Fowers, Lizzy Charles, Jessica Salyer, Jennie Bennett, Hope Roberson, Angie Cothran, Mandy Miller and Jade Hart for being sa-weet betas and cps, for deleting all our echoes, for helping me flesh out that stupid part in the middle of this thing that I just couldn’t get right, and for being super sexy.
Thank you my Awesome Nerds, for boosting my ego, for promoting the heck out of my books, and letting me post many, many pictures of hot guys on our page.
Thank you king-sized beds, for having all that tumble room.
Thank you happy trails, for existing!
Thank you Mommy, for being my constant rock in this publishing world.
Thank you Jenny, Becki, and Shellie, for reading and loving all of the words I put down and for pimping them out to people you know.
Thank you children, for liking simple meals such as cold hot dogs and instant mashed potatoes.
And last, thank you to hubby, for always being first and foremost, my best friend.
Tessa’s Acknowledgements
Ditto.
But I’d also like to say, thank you to Cassie Mae for asking me to write this book with you. I’ll never forget that day and the absolute shock I felt when the Cassie Mae wanted to write a book with me. This book means so much to me and not just because I have fallen in love with the characters and in a weird way they feel like family, but also because somewhere along this journey you became my best friend in this crazy writing world. I don’t know what I would do without you. Holy cow that went sappy. Fart.
Mom, thank you for reading one of the very first drafts. For supporting me unconditionally and for keeping me going even when I want to give up.
Dad, for telling me to write down every funny thing you and I say.
Cassie already thanked all our CP’s, but you guys deserve all the thanks in the world.
Eric, thank you for just being you.
And thank you OPI nail polish for having the best names and a great website.
Becca Ann (pseudonym for Cassie Mae) is a nerd to the core from Utah, who likes to write about other nerds who find love. She’s the author of the Amazon Bestsellers REASONS I FELL FOR THE FUNNY FAT FRIEND and HOW TO DATE A NERD, and is the debut author for the Random House FLIRT line with her New Adult novels FRIDAY NIGHT ALIBI and SWITCHED. She spends time with her angel children and perfect husband who fan her and feed her grapes while she clacks away on the keyboard. Then she wakes up from that dream world and manages to get a few words on the computer while the house explodes around her. When she’s not writing, she’s spending time with the youth in her community as a volleyball and basketball coach, or searching the house desperately for chocolate.
Find her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/beccaannauthor.
Tessa Marie (pseudonym for Theresa Paolo) lives in the same town she grew up in on Long Island, NY with her boyfriend and Milton, their big eyed goldfish. She has a hard time accepting the fact she’s nearing thirty which is why she writes New Adult and Young Adult books, reliving the best and worst years of her life through her characters. She put her love of writing on hold while she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from Dowling College. On November 11th 2011 at 11:11 she made a wish. Two hours later she was laid off. Jobless for the first time since she was sixteen she was determined to make her wish come true. Writing became her life again and after many nights of ignoring her boyfriend to spend time with her characters, she finally received the call that all her hard work, finger crossing and eye crossing paid off. She signed with Berkley (Penguin) and her debut novel, (NEVER) AGAIN, a NA romance, released in Fall 2013. When she’s not writing, she’s behind a camera or can be found in the blogosphere or on Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook.